Publication Items

Guns And Butter: SEJ Annual Conference Planned For October In Vermont [1]

By NANCY BAZILCHUK

Dairy cows that generate electricity, forests that are certified "green," and hunters and journalists armed with loaded guns (but not pointed at each other!) are just a few of the highlights planned for SEJ's 16th Annual Conference on Oct. 25-29, in Burlington, Vermont.
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [2]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Guns And Butter: SEJ Annual Conference Planned For October In Vermont [1]
Biodiesel: A Noble Experiment, But There's Much To Consider [5]

By NAOMI LUBICK

Willie Nelson recently graced the front of The New York Times business section in a laudatory story focusing not on the singer's gambling debts or tax evasion, but rather his latest money-maker: BioWillie Diesel.
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [6]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Biodiesel: A Noble Experiment, But There's Much To Consider [5]
This Is Our Time: Opportunity Amid Media Turmoil [7]

By PERRY BEEMAN

I write this as the Winter Olympics end. Some athletes landed hard on the ice or snow and went home without the oversized jewelry they sought. Others turned an ice version of shuffleboard and a snow version of skateboarding into gold medals.

Many were inspired, and inspiring. It brought back memories of the speech '80 U.S. Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks gave in the movie "Miracle." He wanted the young Americans to discard their fear of the Soviets, and said bluntly, "This is YOUR time!"
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [2]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about This Is Our Time: Opportunity Amid Media Turmoil [7]
New EPA Procedure Improves Transparency on Air Standards [8]

The Obama EPA partially reverses a Bush-era procedure for setting health-based standards under the Clean Air Act.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [10]
Health [11]
Government [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about New EPA Procedure Improves Transparency on Air Standards [8]
"Crime Scene Cleanup" in Kelly AFB Toxics Case [13]

New evidence indicates the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry fails to protect communities from dangers such as the now-disappearing plumes of toxic groundwater carrying cancer-causing chemicals far beyond the Kelly Air Force Base near San Antonio, TX.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [14]
Pollution [15]
Water & Oceans [16]
Military [17]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [18]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about "Crime Scene Cleanup" in Kelly AFB Toxics Case [13]
List of Nuclear Sites Released in Flub [19]

The Government Printing Office web site apparently took down the publication after discovery of the mistake -- but the entire report is still available on the site of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Nuclear Power & Radiation [20]
Government [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about List of Nuclear Sites Released in Flub [19]
FDA Mulls Putting Public's Health Above Companies' Trade Secrets [21]

NYT: "The goal is to open up a system in which the agency failed to inform the public that a widely prescribed heartburn drug was especially toxic to babies; that a diabetes medicine and a painkiller increased heart attack risks; and that antidepressants increased suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and teenagers."
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [14]
Health [11]
Government [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about FDA Mulls Putting Public's Health Above Companies' Trade Secrets [21]
Obama Openness Promise Still Unfulfilled at MSHA [22]

The Mine Safety and Health Administration still denies FOIA requests, including one filed in Oct. 2008 by mine safety attorney Tony Oppegard for some witness statements.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Natural Resources [23]
Government [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Obama Openness Promise Still Unfulfilled at MSHA [22]
New Jersey DEP Proposes Gag Order on Science Info [24]

The Newark Star-Ledger reports a move by a top New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection official to prevent public disclosure of scientific information that should be public until political appointees without science credentials and press officers have approved it.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [14]
Government [12]
Science [25]
Region:
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [26]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about New Jersey DEP Proposes Gag Order on Science Info [24]
Old-Fashioned Reporting Turns Good Stories to Gold [27]

By MIKE DUNNE

Two members of the Society of Environmental Journalists honored recently for their investigative reporting efforts say that digging through records and old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting helped them make good stories great.

Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette was the winner of the Scripps Howard Edward Meeman Award for environmental reporting – the third time he was so honored. His winning work focused on a coal silo permit that should not have been issued and was revoked thanks to his reporting.
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [2]
Region:
National (U.S.) [3]
Visibility:
Public [4]
- Read more about Old-Fashioned Reporting Turns Good Stories to Gold [27]

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